Canada acted against own interests in listing LTTE as terrorist group: Kenney

In this screen grab from a video posted to YouTube, Jason Kenney speaks with Tamil media at a Toronto hotel in January.

In a press conference with Tamil-Canadian media last month, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Canada acted against its own interests by listing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist group in 2006.

Kenney made the comments at a special media briefing limited to Tamil-Canadian media only in a Toronto, Ont. hotel Jan. 26, according to Canadian Tamil Congress national spokesman David Poopalapillai. Kenney’s Press Secretary Alexis Pavlich confirmed the Minister held the news conference with Sri Lankan media, where he made a presentation that was identical to the one given to local media during his trip to Colomboa, Sri Lanka Jan. 7.

The briefing was recorded and posted in two parts on YouTube Jan. 28. It was held in what appeared to be a hotel meeting room, where more than 10 journalists engaged in a Q&A session with the minister.

Kenney made the comments in response to a question from a reporter at the media briefing. The reporter asked Kenney about his reaction to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris’ accusations that Canada’s approach to human rights in Sri Lanka is biased and unbalanced. Kenney had a blunt answer.

“My answer is what I told him. The current Canadian government acted against its own domestic political interests by adding the LTTE to the list of prescribed terrorist organizations in 2006,” said Kenney. “They’ve (the Sri Lankan government) been accusing us of somehow responding just to domestic political pressure, and being indifferent to the Tigers. I say this is exactly wrong.”

For Poopalapillai, the comment was confusing.

“I don’t know what he meant. It was a little confusing,” said Poopalapillai.

Kenney’s Press Secretary Alexis Pavlich said the Minister made the remarks in response to an accusation by the Sri Lankan government that the Canadian government’s concern about human rights in Sri Lanka is motivated by domestic political interests. Pavlich said Kenney’s comments highlighted how the government’s policy has not been informed by “domestic political considerations,” but rather a “principled opposition to terrorism, and support for human rights and the rule of law.”

“Unlike the previous Liberal government that refused to ban the terrorist LTTE, our Conservative government took a principled stand on this issue and delivered on a 2006 campaign promise to ban the terrorist organization,” said Pavlich in an email.

In an April 2006 report by the National Post, former Canadian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Martin Collacott, said the Liberals refusal to outlaw the LTTE was based on the belief that such an action would hurt peace efforts. The Conservative government listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group in 2006 and cut off the flow of Canadian money to the group.

Kenney also used the Toronto press conference as an opportunity to brief the journalists on his trip to Sri Lanka last month and raise some points of concern.

“One of my main reasons for being there was to do a presentation on the issue of human smuggling but my second reason to be there was to convey to the Sri Lankan government our very serious concern about the ongoing failure of the Rajapaska government to deal with reconciliation in a post-war environment,” said Kenney.

Canada has led the international effort to pressure the Sri Lankan government to investigate allegations of kidnappings, summary executions and other atrocities being committed by government forces and the Tigers. The violations are believed to have occurred in May 2009 when government forces defeated the Tigers, ending the country’s 26-year civil war.

At the media briefing in Toronto, Kenney called on the Sri Lankan government to uphold human rights and encourage post-war reconciliation for its people, especially the minority Tamils.

Reiterating Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s concern, Kenney said that if the Sri Lankan government does not make serious improvement to the human rights situation in their country, Canada will boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka this November.

“We have taken the strongest position I believe of any country of the world, certainly the Commonwealth, in demanding accountability and human rights for all of the people of Sri Lanka, including and especially the Tamil minority,” said Kenney.

In terms of specific efforts, Kenney said the Sri Lankan government must respect Article 13 of the Sri Lankan Constitution about devolution, and allow elections in the North Eastern province. He also called for an investigation into the estimated 10,000 to 200,000 people who disappeared during the civil war.

Despite his confusion regarding Kenney’s comments about the listing of the LTTE as a terrorist organization, Poopalapillai said the Canadian Tamil Congress welcomed Kenney’s toughness on the Sri Lankan government and supports Canada’s threat to boycott the Commonwealth meeting.

Sri Lanka is an island country located in the northern Indian Ocean, south of India. Since the end of the civil war in 2009, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has continued to show signs of corruption, such as extending term limits on his presidency and abolishing independent commissions.